


Haunting Illusions

by StarkLove_Phyllis



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Awesome James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Boys In Love, Established Relationship, Fear, Halloween, Haunted Houses, Hazing, Hurt Tony Stark, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark at MIT, M/M, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, POV Tony Stark, Protective James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Psychological Torture, Scared Tony Stark, Soft James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Student Tony Stark, Tony Stark Angst, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, soft tony stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:09:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27308983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarkLove_Phyllis/pseuds/StarkLove_Phyllis
Summary: For the first time in their relationship, Rhodey’s friends actually invite Tony to tag along with them one night. He’s hesitant when he finds out that their idea of fun is a haunted house, but decides to endure it in favor of spending some much needed time with his boyfriend.The attraction turns out to be much more than he bargained for though.
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark
Comments: 3
Kudos: 99





	Haunting Illusions

**Author's Note:**

> This is loosely based on McKamey Manor, which is an extreme haunted house that allows the scare actors to touch you and push you to your breaking point. This house does require a waiver, but everyone who signs up is aware to an extent of what they are signing up for, which is not the case in this story. 
> 
> It’s highly unlikely that someone could sign up to scare their friends on a whim with a well known attraction but I took the liberty to make it possible for this story.
> 
> I’ve never gone through this attraction, but I read about it and liked the premise of it for Halloween time, so I hope you enjoy.
> 
> I am unsure if this requires a trigger warning, but if you think it does please let me know and I will add them. Tony does face some challenging circumstances throughout but ultimately comes out unscathed besides being scared.

God, the things Tony does for Rhodey. All he had wanted to do was spend time with his boyfriend outside of their cramped dorm room. It had been so hard for them to find any actual time together lately between classes and apparent social obligations Rhodey and his friends had. 

Tony didn’t usually get invited to those things. Rhodey’s friends weren’t particularly fond of Tony and his snark or his wit. They saw him as some nerdy puppy that just followed Rhodey blindly with hearts over his eyes. 

It wasn’t completely far fetched, he was undoubtedly obsessed with all things Rhodey and practically clung to him whenever possible. A lot of that had to do with the fact that Tony didn’t have anyone else. As hard as he tried, he hadn’t made much more than a few acquaintances, and his family wasn’t exactly close. Rhodey was the first stable thing in Tony’s life and he’d be damned if he didn’t enjoy every second of it. 

So, it came as a surprise when he was invited to tag along with them to some new attraction in town. Rhodey’s friends clearly have something up their sleeve. Tony is well aware that he isn’t their favorite person, so their overzealous excitement at the prospect of hanging out and their constant insistence that Tony participate has him skeptical that their intentions are pure in any way. Rhodey, though - sweet, delusional Rhodey - just supposed that his friends saw how serious they were becoming and figured they should start getting to know Tony. 

Tony could smell the bullshit from a mile away though and he should have listened to his gut. Because now, they’re standing in line for the new haunted house that’s touted as the scariest one in the entire state. Tony, the one who hides his face in Rhodey’s chest during scary movies and jumps a foot in the air whenever a twig snaps behind him around campus, is two seconds away from having a panic attack and he’s not even inside yet. 

Maybe it has to do with all the God-forsaken things he’s already experienced thanks to his last name? Or perhaps it’s just the fear of unknowns that unnerves him? Either way, Tony instantly regrets coming. He's trying to desperately come up with some logical reason as to why he needs to make a speedy departure when Rhodey’s voice filters through the anxiety coursing through him.

“Tones, you okay?”

“Huh? Yeah, m’okay,” Tony mumbles absentmindedly. His body betrays him, fidgeting and vibrating in nervousness. 

Rhodey looks highly unconvinced judging by the look on his face. “You’re shaking,” he points out as he pulls Tony into his side in a half embrace. 

“Just forgot my jacket,” Tony shrugs sheepishly. “It’s a little chilly, that’s all.

“Here, take mine,” Rhodey offers as he shucks off his sweater and hands it to Tony. It smells just like him, and Tony savors the scent as he pulls it over his head. The sweater completely dwarfs his tiny frame, making him look smaller than he already is, but he also feels inexplicably safe and decides to revel in that positive aspect. 

Time drags on. The wait for the attraction is long since they appear to only let in one group at a time, allowing them to finish before letting the next one enter. It’s dragging out the experience and giving Tony ample time to mentally hyperventilate, but Tony counts the delay as a small mercy if it keeps him out of that nightmare fueled funhouse for another minute. 

Their group bides their time with inside jokes about moments Tony wasn’t privy to that make him feel more withdrawn. He can’t relate to their partying escapades or offer any insights to the life questions they pose because he’s too young, too sheltered and so far out of his depth. The night has hardly begun and he already feels more like an outsider than when he got here. 

Rhodey is a saint though and tries to explain everything to him, but the conversation is fleeting from one subject to another and eventually, he too gives up on following along. He just wraps his arms around Tony and holds him close, whispering their own inside jokes into his ear when his face drops its usual mask and he can tell Tony’s apprehensiveness is settling in. It’s a small reminder of why Tony is so in love with him. 

Before long, they’re at the front of the line and Tony’s earlier fears are creeping back in as the creepy instrumental music increases in volume and strobe lights highlight the dusty cobwebs strewn about the front of the attraction. The man at the ticket booth is devoid of any emotion as he hands them waivers to sign before he motions them to enter, and Tony can’t help the audible gulp he elicits. 

Tony isn’t sure why they need to sign a waiver to enter an attraction designed for amusement, but no one else seems to be bothered by that tidbit as they hastily return their forms without a second thought. There’s no time to read over the fine print before Tony is following their lead, signing blindly in an effort to not be left behind by his group. 

The first room is dimly lit and eerily quiet. Rhodey’s friends are raucous and taunting someone, anyone, to try their hand at frightening them as they make their way further into the house. He sees them rush ahead, leaving Tony and Rhodey in their dust to fend for themselves. Tony instinctively reaches for Rhodey’s hand and his boyfriend brings their entwined hands to his mouth to plant a quick kiss as they slowly trudge their way through. 

Tony’s barely stumbled into the next room when they are thrust into darkness and he feels himself being ripped from Rhodey’s grasp. Before he can even scream, there’s duct tape being placed over his mouth and his hands are forcefully moved behind him where they are secured by some sort of ligament. He struggles against the binds to no avail before he feels a foot hit him square in the back, and Tony ends up slamming hard into the wooden floor. 

He can hear what he assumes are the muffled protests of his group in the distance but it’s hard to focus on them over his own circumstances. Tony props his head up and tries to strain for Rhodey’s voice, but he can’t make it out before someone grabs his ankles and drags him out of the room. With his hands secured, he has no leverage to use and is left helpless as his body achingly grates against the floor.

When he’s dropped into the next room, Tony flops onto his back and tries to make sense of his surroundings. It’s pitch black still, so he can’t make out anything specific and the soundtrack of artificial screams keeps him from being able to distinguish anything else. He feels hands on his torso as he’s roughly picked up and forced to walk a few feet before whoever was there, is gone, vanishing back into the darkness. 

A light from below illuminates as he makes his way forward, and Tony’s eyes have to adjust before he realizes he’s standing over a very large drop. There is a thin plank that extends in front of him to another doorway, but below the board is a drop that makes his stomach twist uncomfortably. There is no safety net or rope attached to him to ensure his safety, and Tony instinctively backs away from the edge.

A hard body behind him stops his attempt to flee and pushes him back towards the shoddy walkway. Tony violently shakes his head back and forth, trying to scream through the tape that he wants out, that he quits. But if the person hears it, they do not attempt to help him. Instead, they stand menacingly at his back, leaving him no choice but to push ahead. 

The first tentative step shows how unstable the plank is and Tony screams through the tape. _He can’t do this. He doesn’t want to do this_. A nudge at his back has him floundering to get his other foot steady on the slab of wood. He teeters precariously over the looming drop before stabilizing himself and slowly inching forward. Every movie about heights has ingrained in his mind that he shouldn’t look down, but his wobbling body needs to see each step, needs to know how close he is. 

It feels like an eternity before he makes it to the other side and as soon as his feet reach solid ground, Tony collapses to his knees. His heart is racing and he’s trying to suck in air but the tape makes it difficult to breathe. There’s no time to recuperate though before he’s lifted and hauled to another room. 

He’s carried this time, and with his feet off the ground he can hardly make out which way is up. Tony writhes in the unknown persons hold, struggling to be released before he feels their arms detach and he’s left falling. There are only a few seconds where his stomach churns at the sensation of weightlessness before he’s overcome with sheer panic as he splashes into a body of water. 

A flickering light comes on and Tony resurfaces to see he’s in a vat of some kind filled to the brim with water. His feet don’t touch the bottom and his hands are still tied behind him, so he’s left to tread the icy abyss. He looks up in search of whoever left him there, trying to convey the fear surging through him via his eyes, but no one is there that he can see. 

The tape muffles his pleading and he can feel his voice becoming hoarse from all the screaming. He can already feel his body becoming sore and struggling to remain afloat, and terror seizes him. Tony’s no athlete, he can’t possibly do this for an extended amount of time. The first dip of his head underwater leaves him sobbing as he kicks his way back to the surface. 

He knows he should control his breathing in case he dunks under again, but he’s terrified and he knows he can’t do this, and now his body is wracked with heaving sobs and his labored breathing is making every move even harder. His eyes are blurred with tears and he can hardly breathe through his nose as the snot builds. The burn building in his legs reminds him it won’t be much longer. 

He bobs precariously a few times before he sinks under and his legs are unable to exert enough force to help him resurface. The trek to the bottom of the tank gives him tunnel vision as he stares helplessly towards the surface, praying that someone pulls him out before it’s too late. Tony can already feel the water rushing into his lungs, and every panicked attempt to breathe leaves him feeling heavier and heavier. Then, all he sees is nothing. 

Tony feels hands reaching out for him as he’s pulled from the murky depths and settled on a hard surface. He’s grateful, but he still can’t breathe. Between his strangled sobs and the water trapped in his throat, he feels like he’s still drowning. The stinging on his lips signifies the tape has been ripped off his mouth and Tony wastes no time rolling over and expelling the water lodged within. Water is leaving his body at an alarming rate and it feels like it will never end, but it does, and Tony’s left gasping for breath now that he has use of his mouth again. 

He greedily sucks in air as if he’ll never see it again because he doesn’t know that he will. Wherever they are, is not the haunted house he thought it was, and Tony wants out. The people working here are monsters and Tony’s reached his limit. They’ve successfully broken him. 

Hands placed on his body have him violently twisting and turning on the floor in an attempt to escape. He still can’t use his hands so it’s easy for the others to subdue him and he feels them prodding at him to stand but he refuses, he can’t. After that last stunt, he hardly feels alive. 

“No, no, no, no. _Please_. I’m done. I want out,” Tony shakily begs between shuddered sobs. “Please, I’m done. I can’t do this.”

His body lurches when some thick liquid is dropped onto his head and coats his entire body. The smell permeates his nostrils and the stench has Tony gagging almost instantly. It smells like sewage, and he can feel heavier bits of sediment or something stuck to his clothes. Another bucket of something overturned on him has his eyes burning, whether that’s from his tears or the rotting smell, he can’t tell the difference. 

Tony’s cries are cut off with every splash of substance because he’s afraid of whatever it is getting in his mouth. He can feel the waste piling up where he sits and he idly wonders how long this will last. _Why won’t they let him leave?_

A handful of his hair is grabbed by someone as they begin to drag him and Tony’s piercing shriek reverberates throughout the room. He’s in pain, bound and he still can’t see, and it’s all too much. It’s been overwhelming since the first room but his pride is out the window at this point as he openly wails for help. 

Distantly, Tony hears what sounds like Rhodey yelling his name. “Rhodey! Help me! Please, Rhodey! I’m in here,” Tony hoarsely screams as the hands continue to drag him around by his hair. 

His cries grow more desperate as the minutes pass and Rhodey still hasn’t shown. Tony’s scalp burns from the harsh treatment and he’s about to scream again when he hears muffled sounds outside of his high-pitched protests. He feels the hand entangled in his hair release him and then hears a thud, but then another pair of hands are on his arms and Tony’s whole body flinches at the contact. 

His eyes clench shut on instinct as if the threat can’t hurt him if he can’t see him. “Stop, no. Stay the fuck away from me! Rhodey! Please!” He’s trying in vain to put distance between himself and whoever has a hold of him, but it proves difficult without his hands.

“Tony, it’s me-“

“D-Don’t touch me! Help me!”

“Baby, it’s me, it’s Rhodey. I’m here, Tones. I’m right here,” Rhodey soothes before his voice calls to someone in the distance, “Get the fucking lights on, now.”

Tony hears the light switch flip on and can see the telltale sign of light beyond his closed eyes but he can’t bring himself to open them. 

“Look at me,” Rhodey coaxes. “I’m right here, sweetheart. Just open your eyes and we can go home.”

“P-Please,” Tony whimpers. “Rhodey?”

“It’s me. I need to know you’re okay. Please look at me, I’m begging you.”

Tony’s eyes hesitantly flicker open, and after a few rapid blinks to clear his swimming vision, Rhodey’s angelic face comes into view. His loud, wet sob is enough of an answer as he tries in vain to launch himself into Rhodey’s arms. 

Rhodey understands and gathers him into his arms and holds him tightly to his chest as his hands run leisurely up and down his back. He rocks Tony gently and whispers in his ear as he delicately reaches to remove the bindings on his hands. Finally freed, Tony’s arms wind around Rhodey’s neck where he buries his face. Whatever black muck he is covered in is getting all over Rhodey but Tony can’t be bothered to care. He’s just so happy to see him, to finally be free.

"Shh, you're okay," Rhodey calmly reassures. "I got you." Tony can't even respond. Every time his mouth opens the only sound he emits is a cry. His body is shaking in Rhodey's steady hold, and when Rhodey tries to untangle himself from Tony to check him over, he only clings on tighter. 

"What the fuck did you guys do to him? What is this shit all over him?" Rhodey asks the others. Tony flinches at the snarl in his voice and buries his head further into the crook of his neck. He had forgotten that there were other people around and he's reminded just how much danger they are in, let alone how filthy he is after the latest debacle. 

"Pl-Please let us go," Tony manages to choke out. "Don't hurt him. Please."

"Hey, Tones. It's over. We're both okay," Rhodey allays with a kiss to the back of Tony's head. "Just a bunch of idiots who thought scaring us was a good idea."

"No," Tony whispers. "They're going to hurt you too."

Rhodey's body stills. "Did they hurt you?"

Tony shakily nods. "I-I c-couldn't breathe."

“Rhodey, we just wanted to have a good time. We signed up to scare and just got carried away,” a nonchalant voice responds with a shrug of his shoulders like they didn’t just torture Tony to tears. “How were we supposed to know that he’d be such a crybaby?” 

Before Tony can protest, Rhodey is up and across the room pummeling one of the assailants. Without Rhodey's arms around him, Tony realizes how cold he is from the muck covering every inch of him. He chances a glance towards Rhodey and is shocked to find his boyfriend's friends all standing around the room, donning new outfits that are all black. It’s slightly satisfying to see the one that called him a crybaby is on the floor being pummeled by Rhodey.

"Rhodey?" Tony hesitantly calls out. His boyfriend stops his assault and cranes his neck to look at Tony, his shoulders heaving with huge breaths. "What's going on?"

“Rhodey, man, it was all in fun,” one of them meekly tries in hopes of dashing some of his anger. “We just wanted to scare him a little.” 

“Does it look like he was having fun?” Rhodey asks, standing and leveling his so-called friends with a menacing glare. “I could hear him from the other room and you assholes didn’t stop. And somehow, I doubt that his experience was anything like mine. You singled him out on purpose.”

“He didn’t use his safe word,” another offers weakly in retort. “The waiver states that nothing stops unless someone uses it.”

“You taped his mouth shut you fucking idiot! I can see the marks on his face. And, you knew he had no clue that he needed a safe word,” Rhodey rebutted, shaking his head in disappointment. “All of you should have made it blatantly clear what kind of haunted house this was.” 

”What are they talking about?” Tony asks softly, dragging Rhodey’s gaze back to him and extinguishing any hatred that remained.

Rhodey makes his way back to Tony and helps him up from the floor, but Tony is unsteady on his feet, so Rhodey supports him with a hand wrapped around his waist. His lithe body hardly produces strain for Rhodey's athletic build and Tony's never been happier to be tiny than at that moment. "Don't worry about it, Tones. These assholes thought it would be fun to scare you, but I'll take care of it. Let's get you home and put you in some warm clothes, yeah? I can deal with this tomorrow."

Tony nods in agreement and stays curled against Rhodey as they retrace their steps through the haunted house. Now that the lights are on, Tony can see it all. The water he was in was a pool. He never even saw the ladder on the side, although with his hands bound he's not sure he would have been able to use it anyways. They pass the plank, and Tony is horrified to realize that while it was elevated, it only stood a few inches off the ground. The drop that he had seen is nothing but an image projected on a glass surface to provide an illusion. 

Rhodey's friends took real fears and played on them. They used tricks of light to mess with an already frazzled mind to induce panic. It's nothing short of psychological torture. Tony was just one pawn in their sick, depraved game. He doesn't even want to know what Rhodey endured.

Once they are inside their dorm and the door is locked, Tony feels himself relax minutely. Rhodey takes care of him, strips him bare and sinks with him into a scorching hot bath that feels good against Tony's aching body. Each passing minute with his back against Rhodey's chest and his boyfriend's arms gently cleansing his body eases the tension within him until he's loose-limbed and groggy. 

When they finally curl up in bed together under a pile of warm blankets, Tony enjoys the shared heat emanating from Rhodey's body. His boyfriend's thumb is stressing over a gigantic bruise that's beginning to form on his otherwise pristine skin, and Tony can see the worry lines on his face. "I'm okay," he assures, stilling Rhodey's hand and holding it with his own. 

"What they did to you...Tony, I had no idea that it was that kind of haunted house," Rhodey solemnly replies. "I swear. I would never put you in harm's way. You have to know that."

"I do," Tony hums against his lips. "You're everything that is good in my life. I know that you would never do anything to hurt me."

Rhodey releases a long sigh before wrapping himself around Tony protectively. "I should have gotten to you sooner. I'm sorry."

"You were dealing with your own nightmare," Tony supplies with a barely suppressed yawn. The warmth surrounding him has him melting into the mattress and his mind starting to haze in drowsiness. "You couldn't have known what was happening. Just, promise me something?"

"Anything."

"Get some new friends? I really hate those guys and they obviously don't like me," Tony huffs as his eyelids flutter. "I don't think I'd ever be comfortable around them again."

"Yeah, I can do that," Rhodey softly chuckles into his hair. "For what it's worth, it's their loss. You're amazing."

"That's something we can both agree on," Tony murmurs. "We should find more like-minded people, build a Tony Stark fan club. You can be the President."

"Does that make you my first man?" Rhodey asks quietly, noticing Tony's heavy eyelids. 

"First and only, platypus," Tony sleepily mumbles back as his brain starts shutting down in favor of some much-needed shuteye, recognizing that he’s finally safe within Rhodey’s arms, in their cramped but snug little home.


End file.
